IMAGE Business Woman of the Year 2015 Judges Lunch

5 Things To Know About TD Ruth Coppinger

This week, Dublin West TD Ruth Coppinger became the first woman to ever be nominated for Taoiseach. Here are five things to know about her:

1. She began her political career as a socialist party politician and now goes under the Anti-Austerity Alliance–People Before Profit banner.

2. Coppinger was a member of local government for almost ten years; she was a member of Fingal County Council for the Mulhuddart area from 2003 to 2014.

3. Following a successful run in the 2014 Dublin West by-election, Coppinger was elected a TD, and she was re-elected to the Dáil at the 2016 general election.

4. She is an active advocate for the homeless; in September last year, she joined homeless families from Blanchardstown in Dublin in occupying a Nama-controlled property as part of a campaign to raise awareness of the housing crisis and a month later, she joined families in their occupation of a show house in her constituency to protest at the lack of availability of affordable social housing.

5. Since elected as a TD, Coppinger has campaigned on the need to abolish the water charges and to repeal the eighth amendment and on the rising crime rates around the country. She made headlines earlier this year when she was asked on national radio to debate rural crime, and her Dublin home was burgled during the live broadcast. She then dismissed the reports at that time, which said that the majority of crime was focused “in rural areas.”